CCU, the process to capture carbon dioxide and upcycle it to valuable fuels, chemicals and materials, may become very important this century. CCU kerosene may be much better than biobased kerosene for instance, when air travel is no longer supposed to use fossil-based kerosene. And CCU chemicals may have a much lower footprint than bio-based

The urgency of effective political action on the energy transition lies close to my heart. We should reduce the use of fossil fuels at the shortest notice possible. I feel that politicians, the media and the general public are almost totally unaware of this urgency. How did I come to this view? Why do I

It may take a long time before wind turbines will actually generate energy, even in a ‘technical landscape’, as our editor Paul Reinshagen called the Dutch province of Flevoland, an area reclaimed from the sea. It will take a long time to align all people involved; politicians, civil servants and electricity companies may have ideas

The use of microalgae for water purification is not widespread. Yet, they are very well capable of doing so, says Paul Hamm. Twenty-five years ago, he was involved as an investor in water purification by microalgae. But he was too early. Government policy steered into another direction, and Hamm’s innovation lost its value in the

Brexit and The Wall not only generate news. These issues also provide for interesting comments that ultimately can apply to other, or much broader, areas like the bio-economy. Where continuous development is hampered by risk aversion, learning to identify and manage risks better is a necessity. I read a striking comment by CNN’s Chris Cillizza

MaterialDistrict Rotterdam, the yearly exposition and conference on new materials, has 140 exhibitors this year, 200 new materials, presentations by 100 front-runner start-ups & designers, and op top of that a conference program with some 60 speakers. Rotterdam Ahoy will be the host again to wonderful, exciting, problem solving and actual materials innovations. MaterialDistrict Rotterdam

The world runs into planetary boundaries, or has transgressed them already. The three main problems can all be alleviated by a more efficient agriculture. Being: emission of greenhouse gases, excess of nitrogen fertilization, and biodiversity loss. But we will only succeed in doing so, says Johan Sanders, if we treat these jointly: above all, we